Facilities committee hears progress reports on County Plaza, Bennett elevator replacement, jail consolidation and courthouse boiler

The Champaign County Facilities Committee received updates on multiple renovation projects at its February meeting, with most work moving toward completion and a request that facilities and the executive office prepare a consolidated financial and scheduling plan ahead of the March meeting.

Carla (Bailey Edward representative) reported that County Plaza is "substantially complete," with a few county-requested change orders remaining. "I think we'll have a better timeline next month to share," she said.

On the Bennett Administrative Center elevator renovation (ITB2023005), staff said Otis added an extra crew. Eric (staff member) said the two south elevators were targeted for a May completion that could accelerate with recent work; he said the north elevator may be ready in "4 to 6 weeks." Committee discussion identified a related change order of $9,058 for elevator communications and camera wiring; staff said the change order was below the countythreshold and was not before the committee for a vote that night.

Committee members discussed overall project budgets. Dina (staff member) said the Bennett Building project had been budgeted at about $20,000,000 and "came in at 18.8," leaving room for additional change orders; Dina contrasted that with the jail project, which she said had been under budget.

Chris (Race Tech Read representative) updated the committee on the Pope Joe consolidation project (ITB2022009), saying interior finishes in A Pod were completed and the A Pod had reopened. Work on B Pod and common areas (corridors and lobby) was continuing and likely to take "a couple of weeks," with booking and master control slated as the final, more complex phase. Staff said pay applications for new construction work have been received, with only standard closeout items such as final O&M manuals and as-built drawings outstanding.

On the courthouse boiler retube and burner replacement (ITB2024003), staff reported the work reached substantial completion the day of the meeting. Boiler 2 is running the building and Boiler 1 had been completely updated; staff noted the boilers had not yet been connected to the building automation system and that the vendor Alpha must be scheduled to complete that tie-in.

Committee members urged facilities staff and the executive office to prepare a comprehensive accounting of remaining costs across projects and to fold those figures into the county10-year plan and ARPA spending decisions. A member said ARPA funds that become available from the jail project "need to be driven by existing facilities projects" and asked that facilities identify which items must be completed by construction season and which can be scheduled later; staff said they do not anticipate "giant change orders" and expect final numbers to be close.

No formal vote was required on the change orders discussed; the committee scheduled the consolidated financial update for the March meeting. Other procedural motions at the start of the meeting approved the agenda (moved by Van Sch Thurnau; second by Greer) and the Jan. 7, 2025 minutes (moved by Wiggs; second by Crane) by voice vote; roll-call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.

Ending: Committee members set the next meeting for March 4 at 6:30 p.m. and asked staff to bring a consolidated financial and schedule plan for review.